The very same everywhere?
Something strange happened on my way home from office in the bus. A conversation I would have expected to
hear on MTC route 70 from RedHills to Tambaram in Chennai took place on route 270 from Downtown to Maple Wood. A bunch of us, including a middle aged lady, a middle aged guy, a slightly older lady were sitting close to the driver. This middle aged lady gets a call on her cell and after finishing the call, comments - "My kids. " Shakes her head and continues "It was my husband on the phone and called to say the kids threw some cooked stuff in the bin by mistake ...". "And was wondering when I would come home.". To add to the good laugh we all had, I added " Good that it was not your kids calling to say the same about your husband. ". After another round of laughter, the guy asks her "Guys or Girls?". She says "Both are boys. How about you?". he replies a boy and a girl.
Surprise upon surprise. She comments "Girls are so expensive to grow. They need so much while growing up, and once they are grown up, their marriage is so expensive. Their wedding dress and everything."
This was from a typical middle aged American women from a family living in the suburbs. I am not sure about my counterparts living here and trying to understand the American way. To me, it was a rude shock. Perception and media portrayal says people in developing and third countries consider girls more of a liability, having to live with the concern of getting them married.`I should not be generalizing based on one person's statement, but what she said, I assume, was based on her observations and her experiences here. I don't see any reason why she would make that comment if it was not close to reality.
It was a shaterring of all the myth about the American way - where it really does not matter if it is a guy or a girl. Thats the message I got from the movies and the television. And here we have someone saying exactly what we would expect someone struggling to meet ends meet traveling for 2 hrs in a crowded bus in Chennai. For having said that, I have never heard such a statement made by any one in a Chennai bus. Probably its just a perception that the media portrays on the society and tries to fit the society into that mold.
hear on MTC route 70 from RedHills to Tambaram in Chennai took place on route 270 from Downtown to Maple Wood. A bunch of us, including a middle aged lady, a middle aged guy, a slightly older lady were sitting close to the driver. This middle aged lady gets a call on her cell and after finishing the call, comments - "My kids. " Shakes her head and continues "It was my husband on the phone and called to say the kids threw some cooked stuff in the bin by mistake ...". "And was wondering when I would come home.". To add to the good laugh we all had, I added " Good that it was not your kids calling to say the same about your husband. ". After another round of laughter, the guy asks her "Guys or Girls?". She says "Both are boys. How about you?". he replies a boy and a girl.
Surprise upon surprise. She comments "Girls are so expensive to grow. They need so much while growing up, and once they are grown up, their marriage is so expensive. Their wedding dress and everything."
This was from a typical middle aged American women from a family living in the suburbs. I am not sure about my counterparts living here and trying to understand the American way. To me, it was a rude shock. Perception and media portrayal says people in developing and third countries consider girls more of a liability, having to live with the concern of getting them married.`I should not be generalizing based on one person's statement, but what she said, I assume, was based on her observations and her experiences here. I don't see any reason why she would make that comment if it was not close to reality.
It was a shaterring of all the myth about the American way - where it really does not matter if it is a guy or a girl. Thats the message I got from the movies and the television. And here we have someone saying exactly what we would expect someone struggling to meet ends meet traveling for 2 hrs in a crowded bus in Chennai. For having said that, I have never heard such a statement made by any one in a Chennai bus. Probably its just a perception that the media portrays on the society and tries to fit the society into that mold.
posted by d'na | 9:30 AM
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